After a thrilling series victory at Tennessee last weekend, LSU baseball seeks to win a second consecutive series on the road when they face Ole Miss in a three-game series starting Friday night at Swayze Field in Oxford, Mississippi.
Series history:
These two schools have played each other in baseball since 1906. LSU leads the overall series 185-160. The two schools did not play in the regular season last year. LSU swept the Rebels in 2023 and 2024. The Tigers have won 9 of the past 13 regular-season series.
But the Rebels beat LSU 2-0 in the SEC Tournament semifinals last year.
Ole Miss scouting report:
The Rebels are 23-11, 5-7, in the SEC. They were swept by Mississippi State earlier this season, but coming off a nice series victory over Florida.
As a team, Ole Miss is hitting .256. That is the second-worst team batting average in the SEC. In SEC play, Ole Miss is only hitting .212.
But it is a lineup that takes its walks. Rebel hitters have walked 204 times, tied for fourth highest in the SEC. But they strike out a bunch, 334 Ks is the most in the SEC.
Ole Miss has hit 52 homers, five fewer than LSU.
Swayze Field is a small ballpark. 330 feet down the lines, 365 in the alley, and only 390 feet to straight away center field.
Ole Miss has two big bats in their lineup, Tristan Bissetta and Judd Utemark.
Utermark led Ole Miss in RBI (69) and home runs (22) last season. This season, he’s hitting .298 with 13 home runs and 32 RBIs. Utermark has 42 career home runs.
Bissetta is a transfer from Clemson, and he’s hitting .331 with 14 homers and 39 RBIs. The 14 home runs are the third most in the SEC. He was named to the midseason Golden Spikes Award Watch list.
The son of former LSU All-American first baseman Eddy Furniss, Will Furniss, is hitting. 297 with two homers and 22 RBIs.
The Rebels have three regulars who are hitting below .200 in SEC play. For LSU’s sake, let’s hope Breyden Randle, Dom Decker, and Collin Reuter.
Ole Miss is 5th in the SEC in team ERA with 3.70. They have two outstanding starters in left-hander Hunter Elliott and right-hander Cade Townsend.
Senior right-hander Landon Waters and sophomore Walker Hooks are their two top arms out of the pen.
Hooks is 6-4, 265 pounds from Brandon, Mississippi, and has allowed just four earned runs in 15.2 innings in SEC play. He has struck out 16 batters and walked just two over his last 13 innings of work.
Waters has allowed just one earned run in 12 innings.
These two teams are 1-2 in the SEC in strikeouts. LSU pitching has struck out 408, while Ole Miss has struck out 390. But the Rebels have 14 wild pitches, while LSU has a league-high 47.
PITCHING MATCHUPS
Game 1: 6:30 Friday
LSU – So. RH Casan Evans (2-1, 4.97 ERA)
Ole Miss – Jr. LH Hunter Elliott (3-1, 3.79 ERA)
Game 2: 4 PM Saturday
LSU – So. RH William Schmidt (4-2, 2.63 ERA)
Ole Miss – So. RH Cade Townsend (2-1, 1.82 ERA)
Game 3: 1:30 PM Sunday
LSU – Sr. RH Grant Fontenot (0-0, 1.50 ERA)
Ole Miss – So. RH Taylor Rabe (3-1, 3.20 ERA)
Elliot was a star on Ole Miss’s 2022 national championship team. He started the National Championship title-clinching game of the CWS finals, allowing two earned runs and striking out six hitters. He went 2-0 and allowed just four earned runs during the postseason. Elliot is 5th in school history with 276 Ks.
Elliot’s last two starts haven’t been great. He only went four innings against Florida last time out and gave up two runs to Florida. Elliot walked four and struck out nine as the pitch count got up there, throwing 102 pitches.
Townsend allowed one run in six innings his last time against Florida. It was his longest outing of the season. The potential first round draft pick missed a start earlier this season because of right shoulder inflammation.
Ole Miss’s Sunday starter, Taylor Rabe, has a fastball in the upper 90s.
Last week, LSU coach Jay Johnson announced Gavin Guidry as his Sunday starter. But he said on his radio show on Monday that he never intended to start Guidry. He didn’t want to leave it TBA, because he wanted Tennessee to also name a Sunday starter.
Grant Fontenot started last Sunday against Tennessee, and there’s a good chance he will start this Sunday again after doing a nice job against the Vols. Fontenot did not allow an earned run in 2.2 innings.
